PAS-C01 Migration Practice Question
A company is migrating a legacy on-premises application to AWS. The application uses a proprietary database that is not supported by AWS Database Migration Service (DMS). The company needs to minimize downtime and automate the migration as much as possible. Which approach should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates assume AWS DMS can handle any database via custom endpoints, but DMS requires the source database to be one of its supported engines for logical replication; custom endpoints only allow connecting to unsupported targets, not unsupported sources.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) to replicate the entire server, including the database, to AWS.
AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) can replicate entire servers, including the operating system, applications, and the proprietary database, to AWS without requiring database-specific support. This minimizes downtime by using continuous block-level replication and automates the migration by converting the source server into a native AWS instance. Since AWS DMS does not support the proprietary database, MGN provides a viable path for migrating the entire workload as a whole.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with a custom endpoint.
Why it's wrong here
DMS only supports specific database engines; a proprietary database is not supported.
- ✓
Use AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) to replicate the entire server, including the database, to AWS.
Why this is correct
MGN provides continuous replication, supports any database, and automates migration with minimal downtime.
- ✗
Export the database as a flat file, upload to Amazon S3, and import into Amazon RDS.
Why it's wrong here
This approach involves significant downtime and manual steps, not automated.
- ✗
Use AWS Snowball to transfer database backups, then restore in Amazon RDS.
Why it's wrong here
Snowball is a offline data transfer tool, not suitable for minimal downtime migration.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PAS-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PAS-C01 exam.